Blacklist of ‘troublemakers’ compiled with the help of construction unions

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Trade union officials helped to blacklist their own members from working on
some of the most prestigious construction projects of the past 20 years, The
Times has learnt.

The names and personal details of workers deemed “perennial troublemakers” by
unions including Ucatt, the construction union, and Amicus, now part of
Unite, were fed to a database run by a secretive vetting company set up and
financed by several of Britain’s biggest builders.

Balfour Beatty, Skanska and Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd are among those accused of
using the files to deny jobs on projects such as the Jubilee Line extension
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The Millennium Dome

January 23 2013 Andrew Stuart/PA

The Millennium Dome

January 23 2013 Andrew Stuart/PA

Building the Jubilee Line extension

January 23 2013 Grant Smith/Photoshot

Balfour Beatty, Skanska and Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd are among those accused of using the files

January 23 2013 Photoshot

Checks were made on potential Olympic Stadium workers

January 23 2013 Anthony Charlton/Channel 5

Dave Smith: spoke out about health and safety issues

For almost a year at the height of a building boom Dave Smith, 47, an engineer, was unable to find work. "In 1999 I was earning £36,000 and that’s when the blacklisting really kicked it," he said. "It went from being offered work all the time because I was quite experienced . . . to the point where no one would offer me a job."
After nine months on the dole, he took a huge pay cut and found some work as a carpenter but struggled on £12,000 a year.
"It reached a point where I couldn’t pay my mortgage, where my kids were suffering, my health was suffering and my family life was suffering." Finally, after 18 months he decided to change career and moved into education.
Mr Smith, whose 36-page file detailed his work and union history and included photographs of him and his car and press cuttings he was quoted in, believes that he was on the "blacklist" because he blew the whistle on health and safety issues including asbestos. One page notes: "D. Smith currently under pressure from wife to obtain employment."
He said: "I’ve looked at the entire blacklist. I can say hand on heart that 98 per cent of them are to do with being a trade union member. I know people who’ve been out of work for literally five to ten years because of this."